Midgard Chronicles II: The Rekenber Conquest
by darthvader09
Summary: Join Adrian and his party in a story of greed and betrayal as they foil the plan of Rekenber Corporation to rise again and conquer not only the three nations but also the newfound worlds of Manuk and Splendide.
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

The freezing mist slowly sapped the remaining life from the assassin cross. The crumpled figure slumped to the ground, desperately gasped for air as he clutched his stabbed abdomen. Blood stained the snow laden ground. A scarlet trail can be seen meters from the struggling warrior. With all effort he tried to crawl back to the camp as soon as possible.

He was not alone after all. He saw how his comrades from Rune-Midgard, Schwartzvald, and Arunafeltz fell in one blow. He saw, in sheer terror, how his men, trained vigorously for this conquest of the new world, were killed in a split second. With a flash of light, a hoard of unknown creatures swarmed the camp. The creatures were not even from the fields of Manuk nor Splendide. Shape-shifting humanoids attacked his men. Neither a warlock's spell nor a royal guard's defense contained the sudden strike.

The assassin cross continued to slump as he made his steps back to the camp. From a distance, he could see a ray of light shining up towards the sky. He heard the faint sound of chanting he could not make sense, probably due to the blood he has lost. Suddenly, the ray of light opened up a hole in the sky. The assassin cross wailed in pain as his soul was forced into the giant dimension hole.

Back in the camp, as the robed men continued chanting, a man with a white beard and flowing robes stood in front of a battalion of creatures. He raised his arms and proclaimed.

"From this day on, the Rekenber Corporation shall rise from the ashes! These nations shall bow down to us, and the whole world shall be ours!"

Indistinctive shouts and cheers followed the man's proclamation. The dimension hole, meanwhile, continued to siphon hoards of creatures from Manuk and Splendide.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – The Feast of Freya

The 24th day of the fourth month marks the feast of goddess Freya. It was no ordinary affair not only for the people of Arunafeltz but also tourists and adventurers from Schwartzvald and Rune-Midgard. Airports, Kafra Corp., and Cool Event Corp. are flooded with reservations for a trip to the desert city of Rachel, the religion's seat of power. Each year this festival is flocked by multitudes of people. Many veteran adventurers were even willing to cross the desert from Lighthalzen amid the danger of encountering wolves and hyenas along the way.

Adrian and his party never miss the opportunity of going to the festivity. Although they do not worship Freya, they look forward to the presentations, food, and display of lights and spells throughout the week of the festival. We still see the familiar faces, the courageous party who defeated the Dark Lord twice. Felice is now a high priestess. Cress Aldenite improved his craft and chose to become a Mastersmith. Two new faces joined the team: Dr. Chem, a biochemist, and Ryl, also a High Priestess.

The past two decades after the last encounter with the Dark Lord has been a period of growth and massive change for Adrian. As a Sage, he continued to deepen his understanding of the elements. He retired from the party for about 10 years to return to Juno to enroll in advanced courses in spell manipulation and elemental spirits. He wrote several theses and treatises on spell history, practical magic, fire manipulation, soul control, and defensive elemental magic, making him well known across the city. He was awarded the highest degree in spell casting in Valhalla, the hall of honor.

Getting the title of Professor was not without any sacrifice for Adrian. With all the needed time to devote to his studies, he failed to balance it with his time for May-Lin, the sage who, at that time, was also training and practicing her spells. Compromise was oftentimes not reached by the two scholars. Arguments have weakened their connection. The feeling of emotional fatigue set in, and in just a snap, he gave up with the relationship. As good riddance for a foolish lover, May-Lin made a visit to the Academy—to Adrian's surprise.

"What the hell…" were the only words muttered by the shocked Professor. He only barely missed the powerful fire spell delivered by the furious (and broken) Sage. The spells were meant to dispatch the Professor, who found it hard to catch the spells. The show amused Adrian's classmates. Thanks to his new soul-manipulating spell (creatively named Soul Siphon), he was lucky enough to de-buff and strip the magic power off the sage temporarily, abruptly ending the show. The lady sage fainted and Adrian breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He was still kind enough to carry her to the airport and have one of his friends accompany her back to Midgard. And that was the last time he saw the lady sage.

Even after receiving the degree, Adrian continued training and mastering his elemental techniques. After a few more years of exposure in the field and joining different hunting groups, he gained more knowledge and became capable of taking the Sorcery course, which taught elemental "spirit" manipulation and more devastating spells almost at par with a wizard's wide-area spells.

The city gates were already teeming with people when the party arrived at Rachel. Freya devotees could easily be distinguished in their white, flowing robes laden with gold sash. Most of them walked around barefooted. The sincere devotion to the goddess that brought life to this otherwise cold tundra can be seen in each devotee.

"As you can see, the feast starts with a mass that will be lead by the Pope," Adrian explained to Dr. Chem (he is usually called Doc), the youngest member of the party. As they talked, Freya's followers started marching towards the holy temple ground of Chesrumnir. Foreigners were forbidden in this area; they can only watch and see the Pope from afar.

"The ceremony is about to start in a few moments," Felice remarked. The High Priestess, albeit practicing a different faith, has been always amazed by this fervent devotion of the citizens towards Freya. She could not understand any better. These people placed their faith and lives for Freya as they believed that she gave life to the deserted highlands of Arunafeltz, a cold, deserted tundra up located northwest of Rune-Midgard Kingdom. With Freya's blessing, the nation makes its wealth from a mining town located at the westernmost part of the States (the town is named Veins).

The hullabaloo of the crowd of adventurers was silenced as the drum sounded. Devotees raised their arms up in the sky. A high priest led the crowd in praise.

"All hail Freya! We praise thy highest name!"

"We hail thee Freya!" The devotees responded in chorus.

The loud chanting continued until the Pope came out of the temple and raised her right hand. The unwary adventurers gasped in shock to see that the Pope was _only a little girl_. She is surrounded by high priests as she stepped in front of the crowd to lead the ceremony.

The Pope, who wore golden ceremonial robes, a golden miter, and a cross staff that stands higher than her, chanted a Freyan praise. The worshippers knelt altogether. This marked the start of the the Holy Ceremony.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Ceremony

The sound of the drum signaled the start of the Pope's homily. Everyone fell silent. Even the foreigners pitched their attention towards the young Pope.

"Sanctum Dei Freya," the blue-eyed Pope muttered. As known by the adventurers who had a chance to talk with a Freyan High Priest, their Pope is selected so as to resemble their goddess: long, white hair, light complexion, and blue eyes. This stringent qualification must have been the reason of having a child as a Pope, although there is a very sensitive rumor spreading about the true intent of Arunafeltz about it. Some outsiders say that the Pope is only a puppet of an Odin-knows-who person, or even a group of people. But of course, with the devotees desire to find favor in Freya's eyes they never thought nor talked about this, lest they be branded as non-believers, or worse, heretics. Not believing the Pope is tantamount to blasphemy in Freyan faith.

"Today we are once again gathered to bring back and praise Freya for all the blessings that we received from Her Holiness. We are not worthy in her eyes, but still she gave life to this desert for us to survive. She has endowed us with an abundant natural resource in the west city of Veins. Indeed, we are Freya's people," the Pope delivered.

"Praise to Freya and to her undying love for us," the people responded. The foreigners were somehow amazed by how the child spoke and how it caught the people's faith. Not all, however, was amused. Felice overheard some people whispering.

"For a toddler to be a Pope and speak like an adult? I think that's utterly ridiculous." A blacksmith said to his comrades.

"Well, I do find it weird, too. But it still amazes me how the Pope carries Freya's will to the people," a lady rune knight replied.

In all the years Felice attended the feast, she never thought that having a very young Pope is weird. As a servant of faith, she also respects the beliefs of other people. Upon hearing this conversation, and seeing how the Pope improved her declamation still makes sense. _But, wait_… Felice thought to herself and looked closely at the Pope. _There seems to be different with this girl. _She recalled all the Freyan festivals she has attended, and something struck her out. _This pope is much, much younger than those I saw years ago, and yet she already speaks like this?_ She looked at Adrian as if to ask for a possible explanation, but the sorcerer was dead silent. He was either listening intently to the speech or thinking deeply. She also attempted to talk to Dr. Chem about this, who first invited them in this festival, but the young biochemist was nowhere to be found at the moment.

Felice, the mentor of Adrian when he was still a mage, has always been the kind-hearted priestess that we know a decade ago. She also left the party to take her holy pilgrimage as a servant of Odin, the god of the Kingdom of Rune-Midgard. She spent three years visiting ascetic priests in the different parts of the kingdom. As always, she has been aiding fellow adventurers, channeling the blessings and healing powers of Odin to the weary warriors who protect the kingdom from invading monsters. More than that, she also spent some time visiting dungeons, exorcising demons and undead.

After the rigorous discipline and practice of faith, she was finally ordained as a High Priest. The toll of the church bells has been a moment of euphoria for the kind priestess. And indeed, the ceremony for her priesthood has been a magnificent sight. One of Odin's Valkyrie appeared and blessed the High Priestess with new healing powers. Carrying the glory of Odin, the Valkyrie spoke to Felice.

"May these powers allow you to help more people in their battles to protect Odin's land. Continue bringing and strengthening the faith of people towards Odin."

Tears of happiness fell down Felice cheeks. Aside from seeing the Valkyrie, she saw her old friends, Sparda the assassin and Pauline the crusader by the chapel door. She saw them smiling. Felice sighed with fulfillment.

The Pope nodded before continuing. "And indeed, Freya's love for the States has been never-ending and bountiful. She has provided us with a kind-hearted company of people that will help us in our mining at Veins. Let us all thank Freya for Rekenber Corporation for providing us with the technology, the knowledge, to make our means of living more productive. Let us raise our hands in praise of our goddess Freya!"

With the last words of the Pope, the devotees stood up and cried praises towards Freya. Devotees started forming a large circle to give room to a group of worshippers for their ritual dance. This signaled the start of the festival for all the people in Rachel city. The lively atmosphere captured everyone, except Adrian. As he walked along with the crowd, he never stopped thinking about the Pope's homily.

_For the Pope to speak about Rekenber Corporation…_ Adrian thought. He knows well how the Corporation controlled Schwartzvald Republic. True enough, this corporation brought massive innovations to the city and served as fuel for all the scholar's researches, including his own research and study grant. But the rumors regarding the Corporation's political control over the republic was not new, and there were rumors that this company has been funding unethical research ventures. The worst part of the rumors was that humans were used as subjects. Some people also say that this corporation has fallen due to failed experiments. The President of the republic denied the rumors about Rekenber's control, although he admits that the state is receiving some help from another corporation of a different name. Adrian did not make any sense of these rumors as he rather focused on his own research, but this homily piqued his interest and suspicion.

"Adrian!" Cress shouted. "Look up! The sky!"

All the people looked up and saw a black hole forming out of the blue sky. A slight sense of terror caught the crowd.

"What the hell was that…" Adrian said. When he saw a hoard of monsters slowly coming out of the black hole, he immediately called his teammates. Almost everyone shifted to their battle stance as they saw the hoard coming.

"I'm really in a festive mood today," Adrian told his teammates. "But I think we have to kick some ass today."

"Roger that, buddy," Cress replied. Felice started buffing his teammates. Ryl also assisted in blessing other adventurers. Doc Chem prepared his acid and fire bottles.

Inside the holy temple, a high Freyan priestess observed from afar. A masked Freyan clergy approached the priestess.

"This is it. The day that people will know how powerful Freya is!" the high priestess said.

"Hah! Stop saying that name," the masked clergy hissed. "If people were not that suspicious with the corporation, we would not have used this method… Gah! Religious matters make me sick, and wearing these ceremonial robes makes me puke! But then, if this is what will bring us back in control of these people…" the clergy walked away, laughing hysterically.


End file.
